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September 26, 2003

Dance students lead Cleveland AIDS Walk

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--While the Bible says, �And a child shall lead them,�
a troupe of children led the festivities at the 13th Annual John T. Carey
Memorial AIDS Walk and Run on September 21.

The girls, dance students from the Spotlight Dance Center in Willoughby
Hills, raised $22,000 over six weeks in the Dancers Responding to AIDS
competition, taking first place in the national contest.

In honor of their achievement, the nine 11- to 13-year olds were named
co-chairs of the AIDS walk. In that role, they were joined by some of
the most powerful luminaries in northeast Ohio, including honorary walk
chairs Jane Campbell, the mayor of Cleveland, and Tim McCormack, Cuyahoga
County commissioner.

The walk itself drew over 3,000 people to Edgewater Park on the shores
of Lake Erie. The five-kilometer run that accompanied the walk this year
brought in 200 people.

While the attendance at this year�s event was up, the final fundraising
tally, which is not yet available, will most likely be down, according
to Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.
The Taskforce is one of eight organizations that benefit from the event.

Pike said that, while individuals were stepping up to the plate to support
funding for AIDS, corporate sponsorships were down for the event, and
had been waning for most events in the last eight months or so.

Despite the drop in corporate sponsorships, however, there were other
bright spots to the day.

A city-wide lakefront bicycle ride partnered with the AIDS walk, bringing
in donations from all the riders participating.

In addition, some of the winners in the 5k run donated their prize money
back to the event, like overall female winner Beth Darmstadter, who completed
the run in precisely 20 minutes.

�It was a really nice gesture on her part,� said Pike, who was surprised
at the large turnout for the event.

�Where did all these people come from?� he remembers wondering. �The
feeling was that there were a lot of people there.�

�There were a lot more young people there,� he continued, pointing to
the diversity of the youth participating in the event. He noted groups
of African American and Latino high school students that registered for
the walk.

The diversity of the crowd and participants was mirrored by the diversity
of the host committee, representing the political arena, social service
organizations and the arts. Dobama Theater artistic director Joyce Casey
and Cleveland Public Theater head James Levin shared the stage with Lakewood
Mayor Madeline Cain, Planned Parenthood CEO Betsy Kaufman and State Reps.
Michael Skindell and Shirley A. Smith, among dozens of others.

In addition to the AIDS Taskforce, the event also benefits the Free Clinic,
the Cleveland Lesbian-Gay Center, Planned Parenthood, the Women�s Center,
Antioch Baptist Church�s Agape venture with the Cleveland Clinic, the
Hispanic Urban Minority Alcohol and Drug Addiction Outreach Program (HUMADAOP)
and the Ohio AIDS Coalition.

While the walk itself is over for the year, donations can still be made
online by going to www.kintera.com and using the search function to locate
the Dr. John Carey Memorial AIDS Walk page.

Last year�s walk raised $100,000 for the organization, while this year�s
event topped the previous year�s total by $15,000.

Event chair Kathy Nardiello points to online walker registration and
donations as part of the reason for the increase.

�Kintera [the company that handles online registration] worked out to
be a great tool for us,� she said. �Looking at some quick reports, we
had 199 participants register online and collect donations through almost
300 online donation transactions.�

�I think that it produced great results for first-time use, and has much
future potential for us to raise event awareness and collect donations
in a fast, easy way,� she continued.

A number of corporate sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Max & Erma�s,
Sara Lee, Trauth Dairy, Propel, Kahn�s, Starbucks and Husman�s, provided
refreshments before, during and after the walk, including a pre-event
continental breakfast and post-event lunch.

The success of the Red Ribbon Walk also reversed an overall trend of
diminishing returns in AIDS walks of late.

�AVOC is very happy with the results from the event, because over the
years this event had gained outstanding momentum,� Nardiello said, �but,
unfortunately, we have seen a decline in attendance and donation due to
overall complacency about AIDS.�

�People are reading about advancements in treatments and interpreting
that to mean the crisis is over,� she explained, �but not one single case
of HIV or AIDS has been cured.�

�In fact,� she continued, �there is not a decrease in new infections--infection
rates continue to increase. Outreach to communities of color, youth and
the GLBT community continues to be deliberate and intense, as this is
where the infection continues to disproportionately take lives.�

Donations are still being accepted online at www.avoc.org/aidsrunwalk/home.html.

Former officer sues hospital for anti-gay harassment

by Eric Resnick

Columbus--A gay former police officer is suing the hospital where
he worked for 14 months of anti-gay harassment.

Christopher Vickers is asking a federal court to award him $10 million
in a suit filed September 19 against the Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster,
30 miles southeast of Columbus. He left the hospital on May 5, after
working there for 12 years.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court, southern Ohio district in
Columbus by Vickers, 34, and his attorney Thomas Watkins of Stow. It alleges
26 counts of violations of federal and state law including false imprisonment,
defamation by slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion
of privacy, battery and constructive discharge, which is an employer forcing
a worker to quit without actually firing him.

The suit claims that Vickers� supervisors and hospital administrators
joined in the harassment and retaliated against Vickers, threatening him
with disciplinary action for reporting the incidents.

Most of the suit is brought under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1989 Price Waterhouse
v. Hopkins case, can be applied to employment discrimination for non-conformity
to gender stereotype.

The 71-page complaint contains descriptions of more than 100 incidents
of anti-gay verbal and physical harassment and retaliation. It involves
every level of hospital management, including the president, who allegedly
either knew of the harassment and did nothing to stop it, or participated
in it.

Watkins said that Vickers, who is trained to gather evidence, has documented
each incident with recordings, documents, affidavits, and photos.

Among the incidents is a March 13 phone call to the hospital police department.
Dixon answered the phone and said, �He�s here, he�s sucking dick.� Then
he turned to Vickers and said, �It�s for you.�

The caller was Vickers� mother.

Vickers also says that Chief Anderson revealed publicly that Vickers
had been sexually molested by a relative as a young child.

According to the complaint, Dixon and other officers continuously referred
to Vickers as a �fucking faggot� and attempted to grab his genitals and
crotch.

Officers and the chief began to refer to Vickers as �Kiss� and posted
pictures of him with penises in or near his mouth, the suit says, and
they put a topical anesthetic in his drink and an irritant in his jacket.

Vickers claims that Anderson laughed about these incidents, and publicly
addressed Vickers as �Fruitcake.�

Another officer, Ken Darst, says he was also harassed when he protested
what the others were doing to Vickers.

Watkins said Darst is one of the officers that swore an affidavit as
a witness to Vickers� harassment.

Vickers hired Watkins in April to try to end the harassment.

According to the complaint, once Watkins was hired and met with hospital
officers, things got �more intense� for Vickers and Darst.

�Darst is still employed there,� said Watkins. �I made it clear to them
that if they retaliated against Darst, I would make him a plaintiff in
the suit.�

Hospital officials told Watkins that Anderson, Dixon, and Mueller were
going to be suspended for harassing Vickers.

However, Vickers learned that the three were reassigned to transport
duty during their suspension period.

Vickers and Darst then learned that the hospital�s attorneys were also
investigating, the complaint says, but for the purpose of disciplining
Vickers in order to discredit him in the event he filed a lawsuit against
the hospital.

Vickers ultimately resigned, rather than get �railroaded,� he said. He
filed a complaint with the Ohio Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
on June 19. Normally the commission would hear this case, but they gave
Vickers permission to sue July 9 due to the severity of the harassment
and the quality of the evidence.

Watkins says he will seek testimony from all 2,000 employees of the hospital
looking for workers �who are not loyalists to this kind of abuse� and
that he will not settle the suit for �less than seven figures.�

�It was appraised as being worth up to $10 million,� said Watkins, �if
it goes to a jury.�

The hospital has 20 days to file an answer to the complaint. They are
represented by William C. Moul of the Columbus firm Thompson, Hine, and
Flury.

�The hospital believes the allegations are not well-founded and will
defend it accordingly,� Moul said.

Columbus--Ohio�s so-called �Defense of Marriage Act� will
get its first hearing before the newly-created Juvenile and Family Law
Committee on October 8.

House Bill 272, sponsored by State Rep. Bill Seitz of Cincinnati, declares
that marriage between one man and one woman is the only relationship recognized
by the state of Ohio, and denies recognition to any other couples. It
is identical to Senate Bill 65, introduced on April 1 by State Sen.
Lynn R. Wachtmann of Napoleon.

Seitz will give his sponsor testimony that day. Committee chair Michael
Gilb of Findlay, who is also a co-sponsor of the bill, will schedule proponent
and opponent testimony after Seitz�s testimony.

�There is more reason to pass this now than then,� Seitz said, referring
to an identical bill passed by the Ohio House in 2001. That bill died
in the Senate.

Seitz noted Canada�s legalization of same-sex marriage in Ontario and
British Columbia.

Tim Downing of Cleveland, an attorney who is the interim president of
the LGBT lobby Ohioans for Growth and Equality, says the �Defense of Marriage�
name for the bill is wrong.

�This is a denial of benefits bill,� said Downing. �There is no need
to define marriage in Ohio. It has had the same definition as one man
and one woman for over 100 years.�

Downing said OGE is lining up witnesses to testify against the bill.

Seitz said it may get less time for proponent and opponent testimony
than in 2001.

�There�s less reason for hearings since it already passed the House once,�
said Seitz.

�We will unsheath the bill for what it is,� said Downing, �and show how
it adversely affects tens of thousands of Ohioans, not just same-sex couples.�

Downing said the bill could be used to interfere with domestic partner
benefits granted by city governments as well as parenting agreements,
guardianships, and powers of attorney for both same-sex and opposite-sex
couples.

Seitz�s bill denies the �specific statutory benefits of legal marriage�
to any relationship other than civil marriage, but does not say what those
benefits are.

�Since it is not defined, one could make an argument before a court that
any of those are �specific statutory benefits�,� said Downing.

Seitz, also an attorney, says that in order for a benefit other than
civil marriage to be denied, it would have to be specified �pursuant to
statute,� and �since it�s not, those benefits don�t qualify.�

Seitz also said his bill and Wachtmann�s follow the federal guidelines
used to draft the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, by inserting the
revised definition of �marriage� and �spouse� every time it appears in
federal law.

Seitz�s bill does the same thing to Ohio law. Although Seitz says his
bill does �no more than the federal law does,� the federal law does not
mention �specific statutory benefits of marriage� anywhere.

Seitz repeatedly denies that his bill affects benefits such as local
domestic partner ordinances, but does not say why such ordinances would
not be �specific statutory benefits of legal marriage� if challenged in
court.

Already a strong public policy

Seitz believes the measure is also needed because it declares that same-sex
marriage is �against the strong public policy of the state.� The language
is an attempt to avoid honoring records from other states--such as same-sex
marriages--as is required by the �full faith and credit clause� of the
U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that for a state to go against the clause,
it must be understood that what is rejected is �against the strong public
policy of the state.�

But Seitz has said before that the �strong public policy� is already
there. He joined five other Republican legislators as a friend of the
court in the Ohio Supreme Court case In re Bonfield last year.
They opposed court recognition of a shared parenting agreement between
a lesbian couple and their children.

Seitz and the others including current bill co-sponsors Michelle Schneider
of Cincinnati, Linda Reidelbach of Columbus, Larry Flowers of Canal Winchester,
Timothy Grendell of Chesterland and Senate co-sponsor Jim Jordan of Urbana,
argued that Ohio already has a strong public policy against same-sex marriage.

Their attorney, David Langdon of Cincinnati, who drafted Seitz�s bill,
argued in another case before the Ohio Supreme Court that �Ohio has a
strong public policy that favors traditional solemnized marriage and withholds
any kind of sanction from non-marital cohabitation.� He made a similar
argument in an Eleventh District case.

Langdon does not deny the contradictions, and told the Gay People�s
Chronicle after the Supreme Court case that he argues whichever position
gives him advantage.

�What Langdon thinks isn�t worth a damn,� said Seitz.

�Besides,� said Seitz, �Langdon lost those cases. This bill would remove
all doubt.�

Seitz says it is not important that the bill has fewer co-sponsors now
than in 2001, 46 then and 32 now. He says there will be more opportunities
to add sponsors once the bill moves through the committee.

Seitz expects the bill to be passed by the full House �sometime this
fall� by a margin similar to the 66-29 vote it got in 2001.

�I guess then it gets heard in the Senate,� said Seitz.

The Senate bill has not been assigned a committee, and opponents speculate
that it is because the Senate lacks the votes to pass the bill.

Proponents, including Ohio Christian Coalition executive director Chris
Long, have begun a petition drive and Christian radio campaign to urge
Senate President Doug White of Manchester �to assign the bill so it can
get to the Senate floor.�

Two
gay candidates get a boost for Lakewood council

by Anthony Glassman

Lakewood, Ohio--The campaigns of two openly gay candidates for
city council in this inner-ring Cleveland suburb got a boost on September
18 when the Lakewood Sun Post endorsed both of them for the September
30 primary.

For the Ward 3 race, the paper suggested that a race between Jeremy Elliott,
a young gay man who formerly worked for Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell
and is studying for his master�s degree in social administration, and
incumbent Robert Seelie, would present the best options for voters.

In the Ward 4 race, pro-gay incumbent Nancy Roth will not be running
for re-election, leaving the field open to a number of would-be replacements.
The Sun Post suggested Cleveland AIDS Task Force director of public
policy John Farina, who is making his third run for city council. The
paper also endorsed Francis W. Holmes.

For Lakewood voters, one of the hot-button issues is the proposed West
End development project, in which the city is trying to use eminent domain
to acquire a number of residential properties to build a commercial development
similar in nature to Shaker Square on Cleveland�s East Side. A number
of Lakewood residents believe that the city is unjustly classifying the
area as blighted to justify seizing the property.

Elliott opposes the West End plan, while Lakewood Council President Seelie
is in favor of it. Farina originally favored the project, but now expresses
concern over its impact on businesses in other parts of the city, where
empty storefronts line major streets like Detroit and Madison Avenues.

In the Ward 3 race, however, a more LGBT-specific issue arises. Seelie
has consistently voted against gay-positive issues that have come before
council.

In 2000, for instance, Seelie spoke against the proposed expansion of
the city�s ethnic intimidation ordinance to include age, gender, sexual
orientation and disability. Seelie, who is confined to a wheelchair, noted
wryly that, because of the news coverage of this ordinance, he discovered
that being in a wheelchair makes him disabled.

The expansion of the ordinance passed, and Seelie and former council
member Pamela Means were the only two members voting against it.

While the Sun Post endorsed two candidates in each ward, voters
can only select one during the September 30 primary. The top two vote-getters
in each race will advance to the November 4 general election.

At the opposite end of the state, gay Cincinnati council candidate John
Schlagetter does not face a primary challenge. His bid for city council
will be decided in the general election on November 4, when Cincinnatians
fill nine open council seats.

Police
jail two in bar holdup, seek hustler for robberies

by John Zeh

Cincinnati--Police arrested two people on September 16 for aggravated
robbery after a 2 am holdup of the Golden Lions gay bar, six other Clifton
businesses and two individuals.

They are still seeking a male prostitute from Covington, Ky., in two
other robberies, including one where he used a weapon to rob a gay man.

The Golden Lions at 340 Ludlow Ave. was robbed of $760 at 2 a.m. in the
morning of September 6, said Detective Eric Karaguleff.

A canine search with several officers failed to find the perpetrators
because a vehicle may have been used, said Officer Jay Johnstone.

Between the two suspects, ten charges of aggravated robbery with a gun,
a first-degree felony, and illegally possessing a gun are pending. Detectives
presented the first case to a Hamilton County Grand Jury on September
22, and it handed down three indictments, police said. Other indictments
are pending.

In the two reported robberies thought to be committed by a young hustler
in the same area, Cincinnati detectives are seeking help from police in
Covington, Ky., across the Ohio River.

Officials are also asking the local GLBT community for help. They suspect
other men may have been robbed but fear reporting the crimes because sex
for money was involved.

Stonewall Cincinnati�s anti-violence project would track and document
these incidents if the agency got a call from the victim or was informed
by the police, said board member Doreen Cudnik. She said she did not know
if any incidents reported to the group were related to the case. In the
past, Stonewall has helped police on gay-related murders and other crimes.

Both of the two men were robbed in Clifton Heights near the University
of Cincinnati. One cooperated by giving police details of his robbery,
but the other did not, said Det. Karaguleff. The victims could not pick
out the perpetrator from a line-up on September 20, he added.

The first man said that on August 22, he picked up a 5�10� white male
prostitute in his early 20s, with black hair and �sparkling eyes� at Washington
and Pike Streets in Covington. He took him to his home in Clifton Heights,
�completed the transaction� and dropped the hustler off in Covington,
the detective said.

Two days later, the hustler showed up at the victim�s house, saying he
was stranded. He lured him outside where he and another man robbed him
with a gun and a knife, threatening to cut off his fingers if he did not
give up his Ohio University class ring.

On August 26, police think the second victim may have been spotted leaving
the Golden Lions to go to his car on Shiloh St. Two white males, 18 to
20 years old, forced him into an alley. One man called him a �fag.� Both
are described as being six feet tall and weighing about 210 pounds. The
victim, from out-of-town, was hit from the back and had a gun put in his
mouth to steal his jewelry, said Karaguleff.

�There have been no other such reports since August 26, and it bothers
me that there may be a series of these attacks going on,� said Karaguleff.
�I believed these two are linked because the suspects each have the same
description. Some men may not be reporting crimes because they fear they
could be charged with soliciting prostitution or be embarrassed. And I�ll
tell you, it�s rare in Clifton Heights to see one or two white males pulling
such robberies.�

Anyone calling Crimestoppers at 513-3523040 anonymously with information
leading to an arrest may get a reward.

Police are not permitted to charge a misdemeanor offense such as soliciting
for prostitution if they do not actually witness the crime. Also, reports
to police are kept as confidential as possible, police said.

Official crime reports from January to August in Clifton and University
Heights do not list aggravated robberies per se, but they show no murders,
one rape, 23 robberies, seven aggravated assaults, 97 burglaries, and
186 robberies.

Great
Danes

Queer dance band makes a splash
on both sides of the pond

by Ron Slomowicz
Out in America

Junior Senior is taking the world by storm with their debut album D-d-don�t
Don�t Stop the Beat, combining elements of French disco, rock and
ska for an energetic album that is hard to classify. With wild videos
for �Move Your Feet� and �Rhythm Bandits� and an energetic live show,
look for Danish gay-straight alliance Junior Senior to get the world dancing.

We�ve always had a lot of respect for them so it was quite an honor to
play before them, and they hadn�t played in New York for twenty years.

What�s your take on American crowds?

We haven�t played that much here so I don�t really want to generalize,
but I think it�s really good. Yesterday it seemed like people are up for
a good time. I know as opposed to like New York, it�s very different from
the Midwest and stuff like that, but we haven�t really played there- we
have played in Austin, Texas. Like a showcase, like a music showcase that�s
down there, South by Southwest and that was kind of crazy as well, so
it seems like everyone is liking it no matter where we go.

I hear your shows go down big in the U.K.

Yes, but they�ve done really well here as well, so it�s not like the
audience is different. Actually, I don�t really think the audience is
very different for where we go.

Where do the crazy video ideas come from? The art cartoons for the
first video, the �70s graphics for the second video? Where did they come
from?

It was four guys from London called Senola, and we sent them ideas about
what we�d like, that we�d like to have some animals in our videos and
classics and stuff. And then they came back with the clip, and we really
liked that.

Do you spend a lot of time online?

We�re quite busy now these days, but yes. It�s kind of good here in the
U.S. because in most hotels they have broadband and stuff, so you can
keep up to date while you�re over here.

The last big pop stars from Denmark was Aqua--are you proud or ashamed
of that?

How should I put it without being really rude? It�s really got nothing
to do with us. It�s a bit hard because people remember them and it is
kind of, how shall I put it? If you hear �Move Your Feet,� some people
might want to think that it could be [similar]. I don�t think it�s anywhere
near it, but if you hear the album you can hear that we come from a very,
very different background. So I don�t really have any opinion on them
because it�s not really anything I listen to.

Is there a big cartoon/comic fetish in Denmark?

No, not really, no.

Would you call your album a �dance� album?

Oh no, not at all. But we always say it�s music you can dance to, but
it�s not dance music.

Because we Americans need to label everything.

Yes, it�s all over, they�re like that in the U.K. as well. But I think
if you listen to our album I think it would be really strange to call
it a dance album. At least in the words that, when you say a dance thing,
it�s different here in the U.S. than it is in the U.K. So it is kind of,
but how would I put it? Yes, we say it�s an album you can dance to, it�s
definitely up-beat, it�s very energetic. But it�s like in the old days,
you know with rock and roll, that was the dance music of the time, and
we have a lot of that. So we just I suppose mixed a lot of dance genres
through the decades.

How do you like the different remixes that are being done of your
songs? Like the new Santos remix or Rhythm Bandits, have you heard it?

I�d say, in general, we aren�t big fans of remixes, especially when it�s
our own songs because we�re kind of, how shall I put it? We�re very sort
of protective about them and put a lot of effort into them to make them
sound like we think they should sound. And so it�s just like another world
that we don�t really know about, with the Santos. And the Santos mix is
doing really well in the U.K. and the big DJs are spinning it and we just
don�t really sort of get it, but we know it has to be good since everyone
it playing it. We sort of respect people that have listened to it. I don�t
know if you�ve heard the Rascal mix [of �Move Your Feet�]?

Yes, the Rascal mix is really true to the original, they keep all
the elements.

Yes, that we really like, because it�s kind an edit, it doesn�t take
away the elements but it sort of just adds something, so that�s kind of
more our style.

Have you ever gotten a rub-down with chili oil like in the video?

No, I haven�t, but I�m a huge fan of chilis though, I probably wouldn�t
mind. I like the chilirosso, I�m kind of a sucker for it, so yes.

Who gets more groupies--you or Junior?

You know, we don�t really get any groupies, to be honest, really. We�ve
always been really bad at picking up people. We�re very sort of quiet
about it, not quiet, we don�t really take advantage of the situation,
as to say.

Crunchy Frog, your home label, is that name from the Monty Python
skit?

Yes, it is, yes.

Some people are calling �Move Your Feet� the perfect pop song. What
do you call the perfect pop song?

Oh wow, there are so many perfect pop songs. I could give you some examples
like �Be My Baby� with the Ronettes, or �You Keep Me Hanging On� by the
Supremes, those are like really perfect pop songs. I think you can in
general say that a perfect pop song is just a really, really good melody
that is good but you don�t get fed up with it after you listen to it five
times.

Probably a lot of people do with �Move Your Feet,� but on the other hand
I think it�s a song that people keep coming back to. And also the perfect
pop song is a song that everyone understands. Rock people can like it
and old people can like it, and young people. And at least in the U.K.
we sort of achieved that with �Move Your Feet.� Actually, it crossed over
a lot of borders.

What would you do if you heard your song �Chicks and Dicks� on the
radio?

Turn it up.

DJ Ron Slomowicz has been spinning on Vanderbilt University radio
station WRVU for a decade. He has also spun various clubs and parties
around the country, and can be contacted at Djron91@aol.com.